The Texabilly Rockets were founded in March 1993. They hail from Lisbon in Portugal. Back in the 90's the Texabilly Rockets were known as The Texabilly Rockers, written with an "R", until 2004 when they changed one letter. Why they changed their name I can't tell you, but Rockers they are for sure! They were a rarity on the rockabilly scene in Portugal as there were but a few rockabilly bands that came from that area. These days they are well known, played in 1997 at some great festivals such as Hemsby and Calella and in 1998 they made their first tour through Spain and France. The next years, 1999-2000, they toured Europe through Spain, France, Great Brittain and Germany. Now 15 year rockin' years later they have recorded 5 CDs and one 10" LP, performed at the biggest festivals in Europe and are still going strong! As we speak of wild live performances, you can see them live at some great festivals this year such as Walldorf Rockin' Rollin' Festival
(D) in May and in Eibergen (NL) at the second Eggbilly Festival in September 2009. Be there! This new Cd "Raw & Wild" has fifteen tracks of which eleven are selfpenned. We are about to find out if this CD sounds just as the title wants us to believe.

Well... It opens indeed raw & wild with "Doggone Fool". Neo Rockabilly at it's best. It does not slow down with "Outerspace Chick", hard guitars and a stomping rhythm section. A great cover "Up Jumped The Devil", written by the late great Ronnie Dawson, sounds so good to me, I think Ronnie would have been happy to hear this. Next is "Strollin' Gal", a good song but I would have a little less bass mixed into it. That same bass is just great on "I Can't Stop!", the speed and loudness builds up great in this one. After a dry cough on the CD it's on to "Your Heart In My Garbage Can", a nice Texabilly Rockets original.

On to some melodic Rockabilly in the form of "Blue Black Hair". I recon this one to one of my favourites on this CD. Everything is great: drums, guitars, bass, even the voice of WildCat Shaker has a bit of Elvis! It sounds as if he comes from the southern states, but then in America! Over from one of the best to one of the worst on this CD: "What's The Matter With You". This song is just not for me, sorry. Everybody sure knows Long Blond Hair, written by Johnny Powers. These gentlemen have called it "Kitty Kat's Awful Nice". It is the same great song but arranged by Rui Andrade. The only thing in this song that I miss is that great slappin' Bass, the bass is there, but no slap sound, it's a pity. We're gonna rock with "Barefoot Baby", nice fast and hard, some heavy lead guitar, that you can hear throughout this CD, boy that man can play the guitar!

They have next a Rockabilly Ballad for you. It is Called: "My Baby's Leavin' " Nicely done! J. Miller wrote "Blues Stop Knockin' " and the Texabilly Rockets made a very good cover out of it. The sound of the vocals does fit perfectly in here. As where I said a little less bass... not on the next "Gonna Get Myself A Woman". This has a great rhythm section and some of that great lead guitar again. Number two of my personal favourites! Pure Rockabilly as it should be: "Sweet Baby Blues". Played the hard way. The most of you rockers know "Don't Hang Around Me Anymore" written by Jimmy Ford back in 1959. Also most don't think of it as a great song. I must agree. There are just a few bands at this planet Bop that have made a good cover of this song, and the Texabilly Rockets are not among the best bands that have done this. It's the last song on this album, but certainly not the best. But let me tell you that I have had really
much fun with this CD, I'm gonna play it more often! Conclusion: The Texabilly Rockets have done what they said: This CD is Raw & Wild!!